Redistricting Game

Just wanted to pass this on - The Redistricting Game.

This game effectively explains the issues concerning redistricting, and it is kind of fun to boot.

Judging from the gerrymander-looking districts in Texas,, it looks like legislators could stand to learn a lesson in creating fair districts.

Democrats Talk about God???

Being overseas, I have been a bit out of touch with what is going with the presidential campaigns. In an attempt to get up to speed, I watched the video from the Presidential Forum on Faith, Vales, and Poverty. It was interesting to hear the three leading Democratic candidates (Edwards, Obama, and H. Clinton) speak on their faith and how it would influence their actions as president.

To me Edwards seemed the most comfortable of the three in talking about his faith. He was also the most convincing, talking about he actions he has taken over his lifetime to combat poverty. He is clearly committed to acting on his faith but I am not quite convinced that his convictions will translate to effective policies. He mentioned his intention to encourage unionization more than once, and from what I have learned in economics this seems counterproductive to encouraging economic growth and prosperity.

Obama was also at ease talking about how his views are shaped by his religious morals. Repeating the phrase "I am my brother's keeper," he pointed out that we could end a lot of problems in the world if we all just took care of each other. Unfortunately he did not state how he would translate this feel-good mantra into policy. He did say that if elected he would put a high level person in charge of New Orleans and request daily reports on progress there.

Of the three candidates, it was most unusual seeing Clinton talk about her personal faith. I was quite surprised how comfortable she looked as she talked about how prayer had gotten her through various crises (including Bill's infidelity).

Again, I felt that Edwards was the most convincing, but I'm not sure he would be the one I'd be most likely to vote for. I will need to do more research on the specific policies that all of the candidates (from all parties) are proposing. In any case it was refreshing to hear these candidates talk about how their faith has shaped their convictions. Hopefully this trend will lead to creative solutions from both parties for issues such as poverty and health care.

I recommend watching the whole forum if you have the chance.

My Travel Map

Thanks Angela for passing this on...

There is a lot of white space on my map. Maybe I should take a job in South America or Africa. I'm also looking forward to going to Iceland and Greenland, which is the becoming a new tourist "hotspot" due to global warming. (Ah, who doesn't love a good global warming pun? Take that Al Gore!)

Good Times at the G8

There have been some interesting photos coming out of the G8 summit that took place last week in Germany. Bush, Merkel, and Blair got together with some other world leaders to solve the world's problems over a few cold ones.











It looks like they were having a good time, but Bush certainly didn't impress anyone with his beer pouring skills.

As you can see, Angela Merkel looks a bit concerned as Dubya quickly empties his bottle into the upright glass.










She politely looks away as his glass overflows.










Video of the scene here:




I have to say I am a bit disappointed in Dubya... he should know how to pour a beer properly. Isn't he supposed to be a Texan? Besides that, I don't think this is the first beer he has consumed. Then again, Bush has been on the wagon for a while now, so maybe he forgot. (The beer they were drinking was non-alcoholic).

It is good to see Bush and Merkel getting along so well. Of course this is not the first time they have been chummy... Bush's impromptu shoulder rub at last year's G8 also raised some eyebrows.



He may not have been able to provide solutions to global poverty or carbon emissions, but Dubya never fails to deliver quality unintentional humor.

Trip to Brussels and Amsterdam

Go over to www.wesandannette.blogspot.com to hear about my trip to Brussels and Amsterdam!

Anti-Americanism 'feels like racism'?

BBC recently ran an article (click here) about one woman's encounters with anti-Americanism in the UK. In the story, the woman tells of being called "terrorist" and "scum." She even suffered a black eye in a pub brawl. Her friends have suggested that she pretend to be Canadian, and she now tries to avoid talking on the tube.

Thankfully my experiences here in London have been far different from hers. Over the last two months I have yet to suffer any abuse for being an American, and my American classmates have not mentioned any abuse either. My personal experience leads me to believe that this woman may just be exceptionally obnoxious, and perhaps spends too much of her time in pubs.


On a slightly different topic, I have seen surprisingly numerous Canadian flag patches sewed on the backpacks of young travelers in the UK. I certainly don't know of any other group that likes to advertise their nationality to the degree that they feel compelled to stitch their own country's flag on their backpack. "Hey, I'm Canadian! Love me!" (What is so great about Canadians anyway? Ok, before I go on a Canada rant, let me return to the point.) It may very well be that some of these 'Canadian' backpackers are actually Americans masquerading as Canadians. (Shocking assertion, I know.) To me this ruse seems likely to inefficacious. Instead of slapping a Canadian patch on their backpacks, Americans need to educate themselves about local culture and perhaps refrain from speaking 20 decibels louder than anyone around them. Being sensitive and self-conscious will go a lot farther than displaying the maple leaf.

Around London and a Visit to the Homeland

Head over to Travel Fun with Wes and Annette to read about Wes' meeting with Samuel L Jackson and his trip to Scotland.


"Now, when you were on that plane with the snakes, did you ever consider just decompressing the cabin?"

London Eye and Record-Breaking Coconut Orchestra

LBS was kind enough to treat us to a trip to the London Eye, so I jumped at the chance to take a free "flight." Hey, I'm a student - I can't be expected to shell out $30 to ride a big ferris wheel (or observation wheel, as they call it).

The trip around the wheel was a pleasant experience. We had nice views of Parliament, Westminster Cathedral, and the rest of central London. One bummer was that it was cloudy for the first time in about three weeks.


In the bubble


In the bubble


The Spokes


Near the top


In the bubble


The view

During our 30 minute trip around the wheel we worked up an appetite, so we decided to walk to Chinatown and get some dinner. However, as we walked past Trafalgar Square we couldn't help but notice that a horde of silly Londoners were gathered around watching "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Many of them held coconut shells and would clap them together at appropriate times. While one might be tempted to think this is just something they do every Monday night in London, we later found out that it was part of a celebration of St. George's day. We also found out that we had just missed a Guinness World Record-setting Coconut Orchestra performance.


Silly Londoners

This all seemed like good fun so we abandoned our plans to go to Chinatown in favor of grabbing a few pizzas and watching the rest of the movie.

"What... is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"


Good times

First month in London...

It is hard to believe that I have already been in London a month. It has been a complete blur... two intense "block week" classes and a mini-vacation with Annette has meant that I have not had much time to slow down and smell the curry.

The two courses I have taken so far have been extremely worthwhile. My course in project management was probably the most practical course I have ever taken at any level.

The second course, negotiation and bargaining, will hopefully give me an advantage in negotiating at work and in other situations as well. I'll let you know how well my new tactics worked the next time I buy a car or house. One thing I observed during my course is that bargaining position is quite a bit more important that negotiation skills. It is easier to buy a house for less than asking price if you are the only one interested in it. With any luck I'll have multiple job offers this fall and will be in a good position to negotiate my new compensation package.

My upcoming courses are project finance, decision analysis, and world economy. Of these, the world economy course will be particularly interesting. Topics on the syllabus include the US account deficit, the European Monetary Union, globalisation, immigration and foreign aid. I'll post about anything I find exceptionally enlightening.

Saturday I made my second trip to the British Museum. After glancing at the Egyptian artifacts I headed to the SE Asia room. In this room the exhibits traced the origins of Hinduism and Buddhism, and most of the artifacts were from India, as you might expect. It was very interesting to see how these religions spread from India to other regions of Asia, and how local cultures adopted and modified the symbols, rituals, and beliefs. I am getting a bit better at figuring out who is who and what their role is (Buddha, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, etc.). I am going to have to make multiple trips back to the Brit to check out the other exhibitions. I could probably spend a month in there and not have enough time to check out all of the rooms in detail.

Today the rain came back to London, unfortunately. This is only the third or fourth day of rain since I arrived. Last Saturday Seth bought a BBQ grill and we have used it just about every day, cooking hamburgers (the call them beef burgers here - I guess that does make more sense), chicken, fajitas, and steaks. Mmmm mmmm...

This evening I'm headed to the London Eye for a school-sponsored "flight". Hopefully it will be clear out. I'll post some pics in the next day or two.

Ciao!

Quick Update

Well, I had good intentions to keep this blog updated more frequently while I am in London. Unfortunately, however, I have had little time to blog and only intermittent internet access. I finished my first intense 'block week' course in Project Management, then Annette came for a visit (see www.wesandannette.blogspot.com), and now I am in the midst of my second block week class, Negotiation and Bargaining. After this week I will have a bit more time since I will only have class three days a week. So, I will try to do a bit better about posting updates. Check back soon!

A Stroll Around London

On Saturday Chris and Vikram, a couple of my classmates, asked if I wanted to join them for a walk around London. Luckily the weather was great (again!).

We started our walk at Trafalgar Square and made our way down to Buckingham Palace (Buck House, as the locals call it), then walked through St. James park to the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) and Westminster Abbey.


Baker Street Tube Station - near LBS


Trafalgar Square


Admiralty Arch


Buckingham Palace


St. James Park


Big Ben


Westminster Abbey


The London Eye


Battle of Britain Memorial

As we walked along the river towards London bridge, we passed the relatively new Millennium Bridge, also known as "Wobbly bridge." When it was first opened, it swayed due to resonant vibrations caused by people walking on it. It had to close down while the city spent 5 million pounds to stabilize it.


Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern


Chris and Vikram at St. Pauls Cathedral


Statue of John Wesley at St. Pauls


Ship and London Bridge


View of the Gherkin from the London Tower


In other news, I have just finished my second day of class at London Business School and things are going great. I am taking a project management class with about 40 other students. It is a very diverse class and the classroom discussions can be quite lively. This is a "block class" - an intense and compressed one week course - we meet from 9-5 every day for five days. The class will wrap up on Thursday, the same day Annette arrives. Hopefully the weather will still be great for her visit.

It rains in London???

After two days of fun in the London sun, the ugly weather finally reared its head. Thursday started off cold and rainy and got only marginally better as the day went on. Oh well, two days of sunshine was a pretty good run.

It will not come as a shock to anyone that has been here, but London is expensive!! Today I went to get a duplicate key made and it was over 6 pounds - about 12 dollars! I was missing the 1.97 Wal-Mart key cutting.

Fortunately, some things in London are free. Take museums for example. There are probably a dozen excellent free museums in London.


The National Gallery in Trafalgar Square


Fountain in front of the National Gallery


Flying rats in Trafalgar square


Self explanatory

Today I took a peek in the national gallery before going to the national portrait gallery. I got to brush up on my British history by reading about London's royal family from the 1500s or so on and seeing portraits of Kings, Queens, and other notable people.


Slightly crooked photo of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square

As I was leaving the museum there was a bit of sunshine. It even looked like good weather for a jog. So, when I got back the flat Seth and I went for a jog down Paddington canal.

The big plan for tomorrow evening is to find a cheap theater ticket and see a show.. will let you know how it turns out.

New series coming: Wes in London

I'll be in London from now through June and will be brushing off my blog to report on some of my experiences. Check back soon!

Not much going on here...

As you can tell, I have been neglecting this blog for a while. Instead, I have been focusing my blogging efforts on Travel Fun with Wes and Annette. Feel free to check it out.

I'm not sure when I will pick back up on this blog but I think there is a good chance I will eventually, so check back in the future.

Thanks for visiting!

Engaged!

We're engaged! Tuesday, March 22nd. Cabrillo National Monument, near San Diego, California.

Here follows the account of the best (and most important) decision I've ever made (Ok, Annette had a part in it too). You can read it if you like, or else you can just enjoy the photo of us, the happy couple.

I met Annette in 2000 at Texas A&M; we were both members of the Wesley Fountation and did a lot of activities with the group (we particularly enjoyed going dancing on Thursday nights). On Easter weekend of that year, I asked Annette to come out to Utopia, TX and celebrate Easter with my family. We were just friends at the time, but something deep inside me said (or maybe it was God whispering) that I needed to find a way to convince her to come home with me. At the time she was studying for the CPA exam, but for some reason she agreed to make the trip. The adventure began in earnest that weekend.

When we started dating, netither of us expected the relationship would continue past the summer since Annette was moving out of town to begin work, and I had another year and a half of school before graduation. That summer Annette and her sister went on a backpacking tour of Europe and I attended summer school in Germany. After classes ended, we met up to do some traveling together and got to know each other even better over train rides through the Alps and dinners on the Italian Riveria. Over the next five years Annette and I grew closer through many more adventures, including a year that I spent in Salt Lake City while she remained in Houston.

After praying about the decision for over a year, I felt that it was time to take action in March of this year. Everything fell into place as Annette got a rare week long vacation and we planned to go visit her parents in Louisiana. At work, I received a bonus which helped finance the ring and a surprise trip to San Diego for Annette and I.

Everything was set as Annette and I traveled to Louisiana to see her family. We had a fun weekend there visiting with her parents and riding bikes on the Tammany Trace. On Sunday night I called my parents to let them know what I was planning, and on Monday I sat down with Annette's Mother and Father to ask for their blessing (while Annette was in another room folding 10 loads of laundry that she had brought with her). That evening I told Annette to pack for a trip.

The following morning we headed to the airport, and Annette finally found out our destination when we boarded the flight to San Diego. After arriving we decided to go for a drive along the coast down to Cabrillo National Monument. As we walked along the park, I worked up my courage and looked for a place to propose. Annette and I sat on a bench where we could see the sun beginning to set over the water, while a cold wind came blowing in off the Pacific.

Annette was about ready to head back to the hotel but I asked to take one last walk along the path on the edge of the steep hill. As we walked, I stopped suddenly to "tie my shoe." Realizing that my shoelace was not in fact untied, Annette quickly began to figure out what was going to happen. On my knee, I asked Annette to marry me and thankfully she said yes.

Annette and I have many things in common (most importantly a deeply rooted relationship with Christ), and where we have differences they are complimentary (for the most part!) . I'm overwhelmingly excited about starting a new chapter of life with Annette, and I'm pretty sure she feels the same way. Take a look at the photo and see for yourself. (Hopefully she isn't just excited about the ring!)

Adios, Cheap Gas.



Being in the energy field, I like to keep a close eye on developments in the industry and particularly the energy policy of the United States. So, from time to time you'll see some energy discussion here. This is the first installment.

If you haven't heard about "Peak Oil" in the news yet, you will soon. Over the past few months, it has popped up in more and more places, from CNN to CSI (the #1 show on TV).

So, what is peak oil and why should you care?

The answer to the first question is pretty easy.. actually, any fifth grader should be familiar with the concept. Hydrocarbon fuels, in this case oil, are "non-renewable" resources, as opposed to "renewable resources" such as wind and solar power. (Of course "renewable resource" is somewhat of a misnomer itself, because wind and solar power are both generated by the sun, which will burn out in 5 billion years or so.)

Technicalities aside, back to the oil. What most of us who went to primary school within the last two decades learned is that oil is a non-renewable resource. What our teachers did not mention is exactly when oil will run out and how it will impact our society. This is the aim of the peak oil theory.

In brief, the peak oil theory says that world oil production follows a bell curve. Over the last several decades, we have been on the upslope of the curve, where oil was easy to find and extract in abundant quantities. At some point, the "easy" oil discoveries run out and existing wells begin to decline in production. From that point, worldwide oil production declines and prices will rise due to tightening supply and the difficulty of extracting the oil that is left in the ground. With all this focus on supply, don't forget about demand for oil, which is skyrocketing, especially in the Asian continent.

So what is the end result of declining supplies of oil in the face of surging demand? Opinions vary. The most pessimistic theorists predict the end of society as we know it, with the few survivors living in a "Mad Max" world of roving barbarians. On the other hand, there are those who think that the world will be able to quickly shift to other sources of energy.

Personally, I'm on the optimistic side and favor a "Market Solution" resolution to the problem. That is, as oil gets more expensive there will be greater investment in alternative energy sources, and the alternative sources will be able to prevent a global catastrophe.

But, why wait for the end of oil? Why don't we get a serious head start on alternative energy now?

A few months ago I heard a talk by Gene Krantz, the mission controller for Apollo 13 (he is the father of one of the members of my triathlon club.) His speech was basically a summary of the Apollo 13 mission, a motivational speech about what can be achieved when people work as a team to achieve a single goal. Following his talk, someone asked him what should be the main mission of Nasa now, perhaps a manned mission to Mars or a moon base. His answer was somewhat surprising - he said the nation should now focus on finding a source of renewable energy, and that would enable more ambitious missions in space. Now there's a good idea!

In 1961 John F Kennedy challenged the nation to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. It only took 8 years. It is time for this country and the world to take on a similarly ambitious challenge; to develop and implement a renewable source of energy in the next 10-15 years. Back in 2003 the president earmarked 1.3 billion to develop hydrogen as a fuel for cars, but this is not nearly enough. For one thing, hydrogen is not an energy source in itself, it is a method of energy transmission. There needs to be aggressive research in safer nuclear reactor facilities (including fusion), and other potential sources.

Developing domestic oil by drilling in the ANWR and other places is probably necessary to buy us a little more time, but ultimately it will not be the solution.

So, write your representatives and let them know that since you don't want to live in the world of Mad Max, they better make energy a high priority.



Everyone else is doing it...

Well, I thought it was about time to jump on the blogwagon, so here I am!

I hope this will be a place to share my thoughts and rants with family and friends (and complete strangers, I suppose).

So, welcome everybody! Pull up a chair, comment often, let's have some fun!